Is a Tassajara too much bike for a noob?

Now before I get ripped, yes I realize there's a newbie forum and yes, I've already posted the same question there. I've read the threads and done quite a bit of research on my own. However, something tells me that posting in a forum with more noobs and doing my own footwork isn't going to get me the educated answer I need.

I just moved to SoCal and my backyard is literally Daley Ranch. I'm new to mountain biking on the dirt, although I've been riding a bike consistently for 15 years. With such a great locale, I want to start hitting the trails, but also still like to ride on the pavement. Got offered a pretty nice deal on a 2006 Gary Fisher Tassajara from an LBS, and was wondering if it's too much bike for what I'm looking for? They've got some cheaper Trek models that I could go with, but I've always preferred quality over quantity. My question is, am I just wasting money going with the better model?

FYI, I'm 6' 175 pounds and quite active. I'll be looking to upgrade the setup later and will also take it out for rides up to approximately 20-25 miles on the pavement. Problem is I don't have the jack to fork out enough for a road bike and a MTB, and I've heard hybrids are sh*& on the trails. Daley Ranch seems to be an intermediate trail, so I'm going to need something that won't fall apart on me.

If the Tass is too much, feel free to recommend alternative courses of action.

go for the TAss man. I started out on an trek 820(200 $) and a few months later I bought a Tass. Anything less than Tass will fall a part after a couple months of hard riding. But even that u will have to replace parts rather frequently if u ride alot, u go through parts alot faster on a mtb bike than road. Since your tall you will probaly like the tass geomerty(it has a long top tube)

I wanted to upgrade to a nice bike after I had been biking a few months and worried that the bike I wanted was "too much" for my level and skills (titus racer-x).

Got the frame at a great deal though and I could afford it, so I went for it. Never regretted it at all, and of course since I loved the bike so much I rode it all the time and my riding skills caught up just fine.